Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma: report of five cases.

Objectives: To document the clinical and histopathological characteristics of basaloid squamous cell carcinoma (BSCC). To add five new cases to the literature and compare them with another published series.

Cases: retrospective review of five cases with the diagnosis of BSCC of the larynx.

Results: all the patients were male. They were heavy smokers and drinkers. Most of the tumours were supraglottic. Three patients presented with stage-IV disease and the other two with stage-I disease. Surgery supplemented with radiation was used in three patients, partial surgery was used in another case and radiation and associated chemotherapy in the other one. Eight neck dissections were performed, six of them were functional and the other two radical dissections. Two cases were found to have metastatic lymph nodes. There were not any distant metastases but two patients had tumoral relapse.

Conclusions: BSCC has well defined histological features. Central comedonecrosis within the cells nests, cell with nuclear palisading and high-grade dysplasia in overlaying mucosa are the main characteristics.